Diana driver was 'tense and nervous' two hours before doomed journey

The driver of Princess Diana's Mercedes looked "tense and nervous" as he knocked back spirits two hours before leaving on her doomed final journey, her inquest heard today.

Henri Paul drank two £8 glasses of Ricard as he sat with the Princess's bodyguards in the bar of the Paris Ritz while they waited for the signal to leave.

The acting head of security at the hotel had been unexpectedly ordered back to work earlier that evening because of concerns about the paparazzi hounding Diana and Dodi Al Fayed, the London hearing into their deaths has been told.

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'Tense' Driver Henri Paul, right, looked 'nervous' as he drank at the Ritz, a barman said

Barman Sebastian Trote, who served Mr Paul at shortly after 10pm on the evening of August 30, 1997, said he appeared anxious because of the pressure he was under.

He said: "They were all a bit nervous, including the bodyguards.

"M Paul had been called back from his home and the three of them were waiting for the signal to leave.

"They knew that the Princess and Dodi Al Fayed were going to leave."

The inquest has heard that Mr Paul drank two glasses of Ricard, an aniseed spirit, which contains 45 per cent alcohol.

But Mr Trote said he said did not appear drunk - contracting the testimony of the bar's manager, Alain Willaumez, to French investigators that he had "obviously had too much to drink."

The barman said: "Apart from the tension that I thought must be due to his work, he was completely normal."

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Strain: Bodyguards looking after Princess Diana felt under pressure the night she died

Diana's bodyguards, Kes Wingfield and Trevor Rees Jones, drank tonic water and ate club sandwiches as they chatted with M Paul in the plush Vendome bar.

The three left without paying the £126 bar bill, which was shown to the jury.

About two hours later Mr Paul chauffeured Diana and Dodi out of the Ritz in the Mercedes before crashing in a Paris underpass as they were pursued by photographers.

All three died from their injures.

It has been claimed that Mr Paul went "missing" for three hours on the night of the crash, between going off duty from his job as head of security at the hotel at 7pm and returning at 10pm.

But one colleague has told the inquest he saw Mr Paul drinking alone at the Bar de Bourgogne, close to the Ritz, at 8.20pm on the night of her death.

His "direct relationship" with the Al Fayed family meant he could get away with consuming alcohol while on duty, which would have been a sacking offence for other staff, the jury have been told.

Separate investigations by the French authorities and the Metropolitan Police found that M Paul was over the drink-drive limit during the fatal crash in Paris in August 1997.

But Dodi's father, Ritz owner Mohamed Al Fayed, is convinced that evidence of alcohol in Mr Paul's blood was falsified.

He insists the crash was an MI6 murder plot to kill Diana because she was about to marry Dodi and bear his child.

Mr Trote had worked at the Ritz on a part time casual basis for three months by August 30 1997. He quit his job in 2001.

Yesterday was the first time he has spoken publicly about the night of the crash.